MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas closed out the regular season on Saturday evening with a 74-61 win over Arkansas Tech and in the process earned the No. 6 seed in next week's Great American Conference Tournament where the Muleriders will face No. 3 Northwestern Oklahoma State on Friday, March 4 from Shawnee, Oklahoma's FireLake Arena. Within the 13-point victory, the W.T. Watson Center faithful witnessed the final home game in the illustrious careers of SAU's three seniors: Devante Brooks, Jalen Brooks and Aaron Lucas.
 
The Muleriders (17-11, 13-9 GAC) outscored ATU in points off of turnovers (27-7), in second-chance points (18-9) and in transition (16-3). After shooting 2-for-8 at the stripe in the first half, SAU converted 13 of its 15 free attempts in the final twenty minutes of play, while also shooting over 41% from the floor in the second half.
 
For the 47^th time in his storied career, D. Brooks delivered a double double performance with 20 points and 16 rebounds to go along with two assists and two blocks. Among a plethora of accolades, D. Brooks is the program's all-time leading rebounder and the program's leading scorer in its NCAA Era. Additionally, the Shreveport, Louisiana native is the GAC's all-time leading rebounder and career record holder for double doubles.
 
Lucas' first two attempts, which were the Muleriders' first two makes on Saturday, were knock downs from range and he added his third trifecta just south of the under-12 media timeout in the first half. He finished with 19 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals. Lucas is the program's career leader in steals with 214. In a team-high 34 minutes of action, J. Brooks grabbed six rebounds, scored four points, added two assists and a steal. Junior guards Blake Rogers and Tyler Garrett and redshirt freshman guard Connor Harvey each hit a pair of three-point shots.
 
The Muleriders relied on the three ball in the first half which saw eight lead changes. Southern Arkansas knocked down seven of its 19 attempts, including the last one which came off the trigger of Rogers to beat the pre-intermission horn and cushion SAU's halftime advantage at 31-27.
 
SAU started the game on an 8-0 run, jumpstarted by Lucas, and the Wonder Boys didn't connect on its first bucket of the game until the 15:33 mark of the opening half. That corner three that opened scoring for ATU sparked a 17-4 run for the visitors that resulted in a 17-12 Tech lead with 9:39 remaining in the first twenty minutes.
 
Twice following the under-8 media timeout Harvey nailed trifectas to push Southern Arkansas out front: first with 8:03 to play to put SAU up 18-17 and his second off of a screen by D. Brooks at the 3:54 mark to break a 23-23 tie. Back-to-back buckets from the Wonder Boys put Tech up 27-26. With 1:07 to play before the half, J. Brooks scored inside to put Southern Arkansas up for good as the Muleriders would not surrender the lead in the second half as it grew to as much as 14 and dwindled to as little as a bucket.
 
As mentioned, Southern Arkansas will carry the No. 6 seed into next week's Great American Conference first round matchup and will face No. 3 seed Northwestern Oklahoma State on Friday, March 4 from Shawnee, Oklahoma's FireLake Arena. SAU beat NWOSU 69-49 on December 30 in Magnolia, while the Rangers won 71-66 on January 29 in Alva. Live coverage links for all of the GAC Tournament action are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.